


Life is like IKEA Furniture

by rhimes_or_shotts



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, IKEA Furniture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 02:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5809762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhimes_or_shotts/pseuds/rhimes_or_shotts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the prompt: "It's 3am and I can hear you raging next door, trying to build IKEA furniture."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life is like IKEA Furniture

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feminist14er](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feminist14er/gifts).



> Happy birthday to feminst14er! Thanks for getting me hooked on The 100! I hope you enjoy!

For the most part, Clarke loves her apartment. It's a one bedroom that is cheap enough that she can actually afford it. Well, really, she knows that she could afford a nicer place if she asked her mom for support but ever since Abby made it clear that she did not support Clarke's decision to get a PhD rather than an MD, Clarke had vowed not to ask Abby for help. And with meticulous budgeting, she's managed to get through her first two years on just her graduate stipend. She thinks it's pretty impressive; graduate stipends suck. 

Besides the price and the fact that she doesn't have to share with a roommate, the main thing Clarke likes about her apartment complex is that it is quiet. She knows from the few times that her neighbor has made noise that the walls are thin, but except for the occasional yelp, she's never heard anything from next door and she appreciates that.   The last month has been particularly quite since Monroe moved out to live with her girlfriend. Clarke knows that there have been professionals in to replace the carpets and repaint but that's all been done while she's been at work.

She realizes that the new tenant is moving in when she gets home and sees an unfamiliar car in the assigned spot. When she gets in to her apartment, she listens carefully and hears some shuffling from next door but that's it. The new neighbor continues to be quiet throughout the night and Clarke is immensely thankful. She heads to bed around 11 and falls asleep quickly.

She wakes with a start and flops over to see that it's 3 AM. She doesn't know what woke her until she hears a crash from next door and then a deep voice yelling "Jesus fucking Christ!" She lays in bed for a minute, hoping that whatever is happening with her new neighbor is over but then she hears another crash followed by "God fucking damn it!" She knows she should just ignore it and try to go back to sleep but then she hears a loud growl and she's up and out of her bed before she can process it. She doesn't even bother to put shoes on, just walks out her apartment and pounds on her neighbor's door. She's thinking through what she's going to say while she waits for the door to open. Whatever she had prepared disappears from her brain though when the door opens and she sees a familiar head of curly dark hair.

"Bellamy?" 

"Hey Princess" he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

* * *

 

When Clarke got a Facebook message three months ago from Octavia Blake saying that her brother was moving to start a grad program at the same school where Clarke was getting her PhD in Global Health and asking for housing recommendations, Clarke sort of thought that would be the end of it. She and Octavia had been close the first two years of high school, before Octavia's mom died and she went to live with some great aunt a few hours away. Through the powers of Facebook, they stayed up to date on each other's lives but they haven't seen each other or really spoken in years. Clarke replied to the message with a list of apartment complexes in the area that were reasonably priced, safe, and quiet. Octavia thanked her and they shared a few more messages of catching up and that was it.   

She wasn't expecting to ever really see Bellamy Blake. When Octavia sent the message, Clarke of course immediately had flashbacks to her freshman year when Bellamy was the hot senior who had reluctantly driven her and Octavia around. The first time she ever interacted with him was a couple months into school when Octavia asked him to give Clarke a ride home from school. She'd gotten out at her huge house and thanked him. He looked at her house and back to her and had spit out "anytime, Princess" with enough venom that Clarke's initial attraction to him was tampered. The more time she spent with Bellamy throughout the year though, the more the tension eased. He continued to call her Princess but it wasn't vitriolic anymore. The next year he was away at college and Clarke saw him on his breaks. But then Aurora died and Bellamy was back for the funeral and to pack up their apartment. The last time she saw him, he was preparing to drive away with Octavia and he had pulled her in to a tight hug and had said "Take care of yourself, Princess. May we meet again." 

 

* * *

 

"What are you doing here?" Clarke asks, trying to resist letting her eyes drop to look at the sliver of skin where his shirt is riding up. He's wearing a worn t-shirt, flannel pajama pants, and dark rimmed glasses and he has an amused expression on his face.

"Didn't O tell you I was moving here. She said you recommended this complex."

"Uh yeah, I did. I guess I just didn't realize you'd be moving in next door."

"Yeah, I didn't realize that either." He says, dropping his head and then looking up at her through long lashes. "Do you always decide to welcome new neighbors at 3 in the morning?"

"Um, no. I was actually coming over to yell at you about making so much noise. Our walls are really thin" she adds by way of an explanation. "What are you doing anyways?"

"I'm trying to put together IKEA furniture. Specifically, my kitchen table. I mean, it's just a table. Four legs and a top. It shouldn't be that hard, right?" Clarke assumes it's a rhetorical question but he still pauses and looks at her so she nods and he continues on. "Wrong, I apparently put it together wrong the first time and I took it apart and now I can't get any of it to stay together."

"Do you need help?" Clarke finds herself offering without any real input from her brain. She has work tomorrow. She really shouldn't be offering to help her neighbor put together IKEA furniture in the middle of the night. Even if said neighbor is sort of an old friend. And hot. Like really hot.

"Really?" Asks Bellamy, clearly relieved. "If you're willing to help, that would be amazing."

There's no way that she can refuse to help now and she's actually pretty excited to catch up with Bellamy so she follows him inside.

 

* * *

 

Clarke wakes up at 7 the next morning with her alarm. She's groggy and can already tell that she's going to be dragging all day. She didn't get back to her own apartment until 5 and had considered not going back to sleep at all. Or rather, she wasn't sure that she could get back to sleep given how her body seemed to be vibrating with energy. It had been 8 years since she’d seen Bellamy and they were never really close before. But last night she felt the kind of pull she hasn’t felt for anyone since she broke up with her last girlfriend during her senior year of undergrad. They’d had the sort of natural banter that it normally takes her months to develop with people and she thought that there had been a lot more casual touches than putting together a table and then hanging out on the kitchen floor really required.

She pulls herself through the motions and manages to get to work on time. After she’s settled in at her desk and she’s had her first cup of coffee, she starts formulating a plan. She’s going to bake a pie and deliver it to Bellamy. Maybe his reaction will help her get a read on the situation. And if he thinks it’s weird, she’ll just say that she does it for all her new neighbors. She doubts that he would bother to check in on that story.

She’s googling pie recipes instead of doing actual work when her phone buzzes and she pulls it out to see that Bellamy has texted.

_Thanks for your help last night. I owe you. How about dinner? Are you free tonight?_

Clarke bites her lip to hold in her grin and types back: _I could be free tonight._

Immediately, the three little dots pop up and then: _Great. 7 PM? My place?_

_Not even going to pick my up at my door?_

_Nope. I'll be busy making the dinner._

_Making dinner?_

_Yup. I'm going to make you dinner. I need to test out the new table ;)_

_How can I say no to that? See you at 7!_

_See you then, Princess!_

 

* * *

 

 

At 7 PM, Clarke finds herself outside of Bellamy's apartment, smoothing down her shirt. She changed her outfit three times before settling on her current blouse and skinny jeans combination. She’s nervous that maybe she’s reading too much in to last night. But she’s pretty sure that their banter was actually flirting and Bellamy did invite her for dinner, so she’s hopeful that this might go somewhere.

She knocks and here’s some scuffling but then Bellamy is opening the door wearing dark jeans and a navy button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and she feels her mouth go dry. 

He gives her a once over with a little smirk on his face and then says “You look beautiful, Princess” and Clarke is suddenly feeling even more hopeful about the evening.

 

* * *

 

Two hours later and Clarke is certain that there is some serious flirting going on. At first, Bellamy wouldn't let her help in the kitchen at all but she finally wore him down and he put her on salad duty and then they stood next to each other in the small kitchen, bumping shoulders and hips and sharing smiles over their shoulders. Then they were sitting across from each other at the table and conversation continued naturally and there were brushes of knees and feet under the table.  After they are done eating, there's a lull in the conversation and Clarke thinks that perhaps she's supposed to excuse herself to go home so she starts the end of the evening niceties.

"You're a really good cook. This meal was amazing." She says, because really, the food was delicious.

"Thanks. It's not a skill I normally break out until at least the third date.” Bellamy replies with a blush blooming on his cheeks.

"So this was a date?" Clarke teases, hooking her foot behind Bellamy's ankle and sliding her toes up under his cuff.

Bellamy flushes even more. "I was hoping so. Yeah."

Clarke feels a warmth spread throughout her chest and she reaches across the table to take his hand. "Was there anything else you were hoping for?"

"Well there is some other furniture that needs to get broken in as well if you're interested." Bellamy replies, keeping his gaze steady on her face while his thumb strokes softly across her knuckles.

"Yeah?" she asks, standing and pulling Bellamy up with her. "Lead the way."

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at ottersandotherstuff.


End file.
